Under an Artificial Sun is a practice based arts project by Manchester Metropolitan University researcher Debbie Ballin. It is funded through a Wellcome Trust Research Bursary Award and supported by Northumberland Archives. The research explores the effects of long term hospitalisation due to childhood tuberculosis at Stannington Children's Sanatorium in Northumberland. Most children hospitalised at Stannington Sanatorium with tuberculosis were from working-class backgrounds. Many of them spent years of their childhood at Stannington. Parents were only allowed to visit for one afternoon every other month. Treatments included rest, good food, fresh air and sunlight therapy. In addition to medical treatment, hospitalisation included a wide range of other emotional and developmental experiences. Under an Artificial Sun seeks to uncover stories of the emotional legacy of hospitalisation, examine experiences these children may not otherwise have been exposed to and explore how hospitalisation may have shaped their lives in unexpected or seldom-discussed ways. |
This research focuses on oral history and archive materials in the Stannington Children’s Sanatorium collection held at Northumberland Archives and informs the development of a new multi-disciplinary work for exhibition that combines audio testimony, film, writing and archive material. The project aims to tell detailed and layered stories about hospitalisation in childhood to enrich our knowledge of this experience and to create a more textured understanding of major illness in childhood and the way it shapes us as adults.
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